Clevosaurus

Clevosaurus Temporal range: Late Triassic–Early Jurassic PreЄ Є O S D C P T J K Pg N
Skulls of C. brasiliensis
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Reptilia
Order:	Sphenodontia
Family:	Sphenodontidae
Subfamily:	Clevosaurinae
Genus:	Clevosaurus Swinton, 1939
Named Species
C. hudsoni Swinton, 1939 (type) C. bairdi Sues, Shubin, & Olson, 1994 C. brasiliensis Bonaparte & Sues, 2006 C. convallis Säilä, 2005 C. latidens Fraser, 1993 C. mcgilli Wu, 1994 C. minor Fraser & Walkden, 1983 C. petilus Young, 1982 C. wangi
Synonyms
Dianosaurus Young, 1982 Glevosaurus Robinson, 1973

Clevosaurus (CLEE-vo-SORE-us) (Gloucester lizard) is an extinct genus of sphenodontian reptile from the Triassic and the Jurassic periods of Nova Scotia, Great Britain, (C. bairdi) and Yunnan (C. mcgilli). Clevosaurus was extremely similar to the modern tuatara in almost every way; the two genera differ in only certain features of the teeth and skull anatomies, as well as size. Clevosaurus was smaller than the modern tuatara. Clevosaurus possibly ate plants as well as insects, as suggested by the form of the teeth. Fossils of Clevosaurus, as well as other sphenodontians, early mammals and dinosaurs have been found in ancient cave systems of Great Britain. Clevosaurus is now believed to have had Pangaean distribution.

Some fossils from South America (into Geopark Paleorrota) found in 2006 represent a new species of Clevosaurus (C. brasiliensis). A new species has been named Clevosaurus sectumsempra after the spell from Harry Potter.

Below is a cladogram of the relationships within Clevosauridae based on the phylogenetic analysis of Hsiou et al. (2015):

Polysphenodon mulleri

Brachyrhinodon taylori

Clevosaurus sp. (South Africa)

Clevosaurus convallis

Clevosaurus hudsoni

Clevosaurus petilus

Clevosaurus bairdi

Clevosaurus mcgilli

Clevosaurus wangi

Clevosaurus brasiliensis

"Clevosaurus" latidens was recovered outside of Clevosauridae, as the sister taxon of Opisthodontia.

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